Data show number of non-white voters surge in Georgia

ATLANTA -- Tuesday is the deadline to register to vote, and data obtained by 11Alive News shows a surge in registrations by nonwhite voters in Georgia.

Author:
Doug Richards

Published:
10:39 PM EDT October 10, 2016

Updated:
10:39 PM EDT October 10, 2016

ATLANTA -- Tuesday is the deadline to register to vote, and data obtained by 11Alive News shows a surge in registrations by nonwhite voters in Georgia.

Andrea Vicuna will be eligible to vote this fall. The Peruvian-born U.S. citizen is among the more than 200,000 non-white voters in Georgia who signed up for the first time this year.

"We want to stop breaking up (immigrant) families. We want to at least have everyone have an opportunity to become a citizen," said Vicuna, who lives in Gwinnett County.

White voters are still dominant in Georgia, but in the last eleven months, the proportion of non-white voters has surged.

Since October 2015, the number of white voters grew by 10.6 percent. During the same time, black voter rolls grew by 13.3 percent; Asian/Pacific Islander numbers grew by 27.6 percent; and Hispanic voter numbers grew by 31.5 percent.

Jerry Gonzalez, of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, said it has been easy to motivate Hispanics to register this year.

"Donald Trump started his campaign by calling Mexicans rapists and criminals, so that certainly grabbed the attention of many," Gonzales said. "Two-thirds of Latinos in Georgia are of Mexican descent."

But those who want to beat Trump this fall will want to take a closer look at the same numbers. While non-white voters have swollen the voter rolls disproportionately – new white voters still outnumbered them. Nearly 281,842 new white voters registered in the last 11 months – compared to nearly 233,985 non-white voters.

But Gonzalez says the long-term impact is undeniable. "The average age of a Latino voter is a millennial," he said. "So long term, yes, we’re looking at significant impact of the Latino community and the Latino electorate in Georgia."